Eating spicy food is associated with a reduced risk for death, according to an analysis of dietary data on more than 485,000 people enrolled in a large Chinese health study from 2004 to 2008. Researchers found that compared with eating hot food (mainly chili peppers) less than once a week, once or twice a week resulted in a 10 percent reduced overall risk for death. Consuming spicy food six to seven times a week reduced the risk by 14 percent. The authors noted that capsaicin, the main ingredient in chili peppers, has been found to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Still, more research is needed and the study cannot conclude cause and effect.
“We need more evidence, especially from clinical trials, to further verify these findings,” said a co-author, Dr. Lu Qi, an associate professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, “and we are looking forward to seeing data from other populations.”
– See Coverage from The New York Times, featuring Lu Qi